Policy
You’re expected to take vacation.
- How many days? We’d guess people usually take ~15 days plus standard holidays, but we don’t keep track.
- How to do it? Propose the dates to your manager as early as possible. Longer vacations require more notice.
- Once dates are approved, mark your calendar as OOO, update your team calendar. Set your Slack status as away, turn on a vacation autoresponder if gone for more than 3 days.
Asking
Ask your manager in advance, as early as possible. This gives your manager the ability to sort out resourcing while you’re away. The longer the vacation, the more lead time helps.
How long in advance to ask? If it’s just a day of PTO, at least a week’s notice. If it’s a week of PTO, then at least a month.
Note these additional constraints around traveling before or after offsites.
Once approved
1) Block off your calendar
Do this as early as possible so that people don't try to book meetings on days you will be away. Please use the Out of Office calendar event type.
Also, add an event to the team's shared calendar, Tremendous Team Calendar. This gives the team a shared view of all OOOs in one place (helps with capacity planning)
2) Give your team a heads up that you'll be out
The people you work alongside are also going to be affected, so make sure they have some notice too. Use your judgment to determine how far in advance to notify your team.
3) Before you leave, set your Slack status as OOO
This lets your teammates know that you will be away.
For longer vacations
If you are going to be away for a week or more, some recommendations to get the most out of your time off:
- Devise and share an OOO plan. This should outline who is covering day-to-day responsibilities for you in your absence. This is particularly important for managers! Here’s an example.
- Set up an email autoresponder if you are client-facing.
- Consider removing Slack and work email from your phone. Vacations are better and more effective when you actually unplug from work.